EVOGate and How Nintendo Pulled a Microsoft in One Afternoon

If there is the perfect video game that would cause the latest controversy involving Nintendo absolutely giving the cold shoulder to its depleting hardcore fanbase, it would be arguably one of the least appreciated spectacular game in the history of the company. Super Smash Brothers Melee was mixed in with a total travesty that resulted in a big company changing its mind the very same afternoon and once again inadvertently slapping the faces of the bigger Nintendo fans.


The story is simple: EVO, a fighting game tournament that raises money for good causes (LIKE CANCER NINTENDO!!!!) chose Smash Brothers Melee, a fighting game masterpiece that is over 10 years old and remains one of the most played fighters on the planet, as one of the main events. There would be a Smash Bros. tournament that would be streamed live online for everyone to see. After all, the respect of this game is so heavy that it won the player’s choice to be in the tournament and also remains the only game not from this past generation to be on the list.

Let me remind you that this tournament raises money for breast cancer---Smash Brothers Melee raised $94,000.

So Nintendo for no logical reason whatsoever decides to barge in and let EVO know that they don’t want Melee being streamed online.

Why Nintendo…why did this happen?

The outbreak, the controversy, the negative reaction, the pure anger was so baffling, came so fast, that Nintendo quite literally changed its mind in the course of an afternoon. But by then the damage had been done, and the anger had already been spilled.

For Example:



Why Nintendo?

Why on earth did this happen? Why on earth did you try to ban the streaming of a CHARITY-SPONSORED TOURNAMENT OF YOUR OWN GAME?!?!?!? And of ALL the games, Smash Brothers Melee, the one game that has not seen retail sales in the past 5 years at least. You know, that awesome fighting game that did not get any re-release love despite the overwhelming positive reviews, and despite being essentially the Gamecube’s version of Halo---that one game that pretty much saved the entire system. You know, the one game whose formula you tweaked so that it was LESS hardcore and more casual and mainstream with Brawl. Only God knows how disgusting the Gamecube launch and first-year sales would have been without Smash Brothers Melee at the helm.

Unlike most boneheaded decisions in recent months from all three companies, this one has no Devil’s Advocate argument. This one has no other side of the coin. There is no justification of deciding to not only cut the streaming, but potentially prevent the game from being in the tournament at all. Gamers donated oodles of money to see one of your old games from two generations ago re-enter the gaming spotlight along with the newer fighters like Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Street Fighter IV. Gamers were showing an amazing amount of love to one of your games and you respond with your heinous decision.

Smash Brothers Melee, the third best-selling fighting game of all-time, has not gotten the respect of a re-release in any sort when most of the classics have gone through a re-introduction. No Virtual Console, no remake for the WiiU (Would have been absolutely perfect), and now an attempted snubbing of some much-needed online love amongst gamers. This game is 12 YEARS OLD!!!! Can you honestly name video games that came out around that same time?!?!?!?!? Nintendo this was a stupid move from start to finish, and this is only going to enhance the notion that you are now beginning to lose touch with gamers.






Yea Nintendo, Earthbound was a nice touch (and one hell of a secret apology), but it might take more before we forget this ugly moment.

Just listen to the chant towards the end of this.

Nintendo, stop screwing up. Stop making us mad. Your WiiU is already a big miss. Stop adding salt to the wound.

The Justifying Price Tag of GTA V

Look at this trailer. Seriously, look at it.

This is how $60 games should look and play like.

Is the game going to be good? I have no idea. Although Vice City remains one of the greatest games I have ever played and San Andreas was a true gem in itself, GTA IV left me desiring a bit more.

But the fact of the matter is they are definitely providing enough stuff to justify the $60, which is something most video games just don't do nowadays. You can hate Rockstar all you want, but they will shell out so much detail and so much material in their games you can't laud them on lack of effort. You simply can't.



This review was from ions ago and San Andreas looks like a game that is lengthier than most of the games we see today. Your shooters are becoming shorter and shorter. Your Mario games have yet to really deliver on the gameplay hours. And let's not get even started with Zelda and your real-time action games with bazillions of hours of cutscenes. Grand Theft Auto V needs to become a success so it can usher in more games with more meat.

And this is why older franchises like Zelda, Mario, Sonic, Star Fox, Mega Man, and then your one-trick-pony genre games like your racers, and your fighting games have dropped a bit in terms of sales and success. They don't have the variety to justify the rising costs required to continue gaming. The GTA V trailer gives you multiple storylines with clearly multiple potential paths to take, three massive overworlds, the ability to play sports, drive like you are playing a racer, shoot around like its a shooter, and venture around so it feels like an urban Fable game.

We need to see more variety from more games. I want to see more variety from games. How about adding a little action and more RPG elements to Zelda? How about adding some more chores, mini-games, side quests, and gambling to Pokemon? And (I will get slack for this) adding a little more space and scope and ability to improvise to Metal Gear and to a lesser extent the Assassin's Creed games? How about adding some storylines to the racing games? The one genre evolving in this direction are the sports games, especially (especially, especially) the NBA 2K games. But more needs to be done. Call of Duty, I am definitely looking in your direction.

The system that wins this generation will be the one with the most heavily-varied games. One-Trick Pony games may have worked last gen but with the rise of small games on Facebook and tablets I don't see this trend repeating itself. So get to work you three.

$60 is a lot of money. And not too many games deserve to be priced this high. But Grand Theft Auto V? Consider me excited and willing to fork over this money in a heartbeat.

How Nintendo Can Win the Indie Crowd

So the PS3 and the XBox 360 had their share of indie hits as well as their large-budget hits. There's Castle Crashers, Journey, Explosion Man, Shadow Complex, and then we have those that have become mainstream like your Candy Crush and Angry Birds. These small hits are a mix of cheaper prices, bite-sized entertainment, and every once in a while branch out and experiment with the limits of what you can do with video games.

Nintendo, like in most categories seemingly nowadays, is a little bit behind this trend. They haven't really gotten many (if any) indie games they can claim for themselves. This only adds to the notion that third-party and Nintendo may never get along ever again.

But there is still one thing Nintendo has that the competitors don't have that can give the Japanese giant its first true advantage and step up on the others: dozens of franchises sitting on the shelf.



For example, since the early 2000s we have not seen the likes of: Wario Land, Puzzle League, StarTropics, Ice Climber, Earthbound, Nintendo Wars (Advance Wars), 2-D Metroid, Mario Tennis and Mario Golf (The RPG versions), Mole Mania, Brain Age, Super Mario Land (trust me, these games play faaaar different from the other 2-D Mario games) and many more. I point these out specifically because these franchises don't really require the larger budgets and larger teams like Zelda, 3-D Metroid, and Mario (Although one can argue indie companies can have the resources to make Mario games).

So, what if Nintendo decides to lend some of these on-the-shelf franchises to indie companies and see what they can pull off? Even better, what if Nintendo took some of the heavier-hitting franchises like Mario, Kirby, perhaps even Pokemon and see what results may occur? The reason why the Disney/Pixar connection works is because Disney merely provides the money and resources, while letting Pixar do its own magic. The result is (up until recently) amazing animated movies that sometimes veers towards an indie flavor because of a lack of a corporate interruption. You really think Dreamworks would have given films like Wall-E, Up, and Ratatouille a chance?

Nintendo may not have the money of Sony or Microsoft, but they have dozens of usable ideas that can be given to new hands and they can be molded into something special. There are dozens of small companies waiting for its chance to shine. Nintendo can benefit from this by reviving one of their fallen and/or forgotten franchises while at the same time provide the confidence and care towards small-small game companies that others would love to see.

Perhaps the road to a better third-party relationship starts with the really little guys. I would love to see a world in which it contains an Indie Nintendo division full of small companies making smaller games for the WiiU and 3DS.

Nintendo, you have a chance to improve your online gaming community. With your abundance of franchises and a willingness to cater to the indie gaming crowd/industry, an improvement can start.

But Nintendo, it all starts with you.